One Thing
by fatefulfaerie
Summary: The fall of Beacon continues to be detrimental not only to team RWBY and their friends, but to those construed as villains as well. Loss is everywhere, and with only one thing to lose, Neo Politan finds herself in a lonely world, without a friend to be her home.


**Author's Note: One-shot for RWBY's Neo Politan.**

**Spoilers for RWBY Volumes 1-6**

* * *

"Well," Roman said as he laid his eyes on Cinder, a sly smirk in his expression, "hello, gorgeous."

"Can the flattery, Roman," Cinder said as Roman came closer, the woman who followed him in stopping just by the door. "I thought you were a professional."

"I am," Roman said with a glare, "I told you that I'm the man for the job and I meant it."

"Good," Cinder replied with a smirk, a distinct orange seeming to ignite in her eyes.

"This is my partner," Roman said, gesturing behind him with his cane, "Neo Politan, the one I told you about."

"Ah yes," Cinder said, stepping to get a good look of the short-statured woman, who could have just as easily been a girl with how high she stood.

Cinder held out her hand in greeting, Neo shaking it without a change in her expression.

"It's nice to meet you, Neo," said Cinder, "Roman tells me you're a force to be reckoned with, despite your…silence…"

Neo nodded in acknowledgement before stealing a glance at Roman.

"This is Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black," Cinder said as she paced back to her two henchmen, the one with short, grey hair crossing his arms.

The two stood just behind Cinder as they looked at Roman and Neo, obviously in disapproval.

"We are all here because the world has failed us in one way or another," Cinder started, noticing the tension, "not only have we seen the deepest and the darkest that the huntsman academies and the leaders of Remnant steadily ignore, but we've been forced to survive in it. It's time they saw how fragile, how fictitious and fabricated their peace really is. This is an opportunity to reclaim power for ourselves, and if you put your trust in me, I can ensure that opportunity. We've already made great headway into starting things here in Vale, and I believe that with your help, we can start the beginning of the end."

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Roman asked.

"Phase one," Cinder stated simply, "fear."

"Fear?" Roman retorted.

Cinder smirked.

"Dust robbery," she replied, "I believe it's your specialty. Start small with independent dust shops, small proprietors until you get to Schnee company freighters and shipments."

"Is this some sort of test?" asked Roman, "my experience—"

"Your experience has nothing to do with it," Cinder interrupted, "what I'm planning requires subtlety, at least at first."

Roman narrowed his eyes.

"And what are you planning?"

"Oh, Roman," Cinder said as Roman watched her head to the exit, Mercury and Emerald following her out, "what fun is anything if you know everything?"

Soon enough it was just Roman and Neo in the room, Roman finding Neo's gaze and sighing.

"Don't give me that look, Neo. We need this. Ripping off dust companies just won't cut it anymore, and you know it."

Neo only crossed her arms, her expression turning into a disappointed scowl.

"You think we're in over our heads," Roman replied, "I'll admit, I don't trust them either, but this will give us everything we never had, Neo. It doesn't matter what the world they build will be, what their true intentions are. If they really do change the world for the better, or even if the world changes for the worse, if we can survive in it, that's all that really matters. That's all we've ever wanted. The lien from this job will give us security, something you know we haven't had in a long time. No matter what happens it's all about keeping us alive, you and me, right?"

Neo's expression softened before she nodded.

"Right," Roman said.

_"__What did you tell her about me?" _Neo signed with her hands, with a language only the deaf and mute are privy to use, almost forgotten to the rest of society by now.

Unless, of course, they were like Roman, who learned it to understand Neo past telling glances and expressive eyes.

"Next to nothing, " replied Roman as he stepped forward, "only what you heard."

Her eyebrows furrowed before she signed,

_"__I don't want to appear vulnerable."_

"I know, " Roman said softly as he brought a hand to her shoulder. Neo's eyes blinked away the worry in her expression until all that was left was a distinct regard, a soft thankfulness.

She didn't know what she would do without him.

* * *

"Lil' Miss will see you now," Neo heard as she stood outside the building, glad to be done skillfully avoiding the curious, prodding eyes of the citizens of Mistral, at least for the time being.

She slowly and cautiously stepped inside, looking from her right to her left at an empty room. When she had first been here, there had sat all sorts of people dressed in purple, none talking above a whisper.

"Over here," said a voice that pulled her focus to the center of the room, to a blonde-haired woman with a round face and a spider tattooed on her shoulder.

"Take a seat," the woman said with a gesture before Neo followed her command.

"Neo Politan," she said with a smirk, the surprise of hearing her name making Neo's eyes widen.

Lil' Miss Malachite laughed at her expression.

"You think it's hard to figure out who you are?" Lil' Miss asked rhetorically, "Although I will give you some credit, had to dig quite far for the specifics."

Neo sat up a little straighter, anticipating what would follow with both dread and fear.

"Collodi's Home for Orphaned Children," she stated, "ring a bell?"

Neo's eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"Thought so," Lil' Miss mused, "you were the tiniest thing when your parents abandoned you. They were already off-put by the heterochromia, but when they figured out that you were born mute, well…seems like they had better things to do. You may resent them for it, but you've grown past that now, found yourself…"

Neo banged her fisted hand on the table, Lil' Miss Malachite stopping with a smirk as she framed the right side of her face with her thumb and index finger. She tapped her cheek as she watched Neo sit back down in her chair.

Neo lifted her hands and started to sign before she froze.

All these months and she still had that instinct.

"This probably doesn't come as any shock to you," Lil' Miss said, "but that's not gonna work."

Neo kept forgetting.

One of these days she would stop trying.

Neo rolled her eyes and took out her scroll, opening up a blank document and typing a name before laying it on the table before the woman.

"Cinder Fall?" Lil' Miss retorted as her hand slid back down to the table, "Why, she's just as inconspicuous as you, and well…just as wanted by the authorities. But, I think we understand each other by now. For the right price, I'll ignore that little detail and find her for you instead."

Neo tossed a considerable amount of lien on the table, Lil' Miss raising her eyebrows in surprise before smirking,

"Pleasure doing business with you, Neo," Lil' Miss said as she counted it.

Yet, Neo paid no mind at her antics, instead looking at the lien in Lil Miss' hands.

Roman worked hard for that lien, died for it, in fact.

"Second thoughts?" Lil' Miss asked as she looked up, noting Neo's pained expression.

Neo looked up and shook her head.

Cinder took away the one thing Neo had, the one thing she needed. She used Roman like a pawn, caring not for the expense of his life, caring not that he had survived so long through so much.

She created a chaos that made it impossible for them to keep each other alive, like they had promised to ever since they were children.

Neo wanted to make sure Cinder got exactly what she deserved.

"Just so you know," Lil' Miss said, "this is quite a stickler. I can assure you results, but it may not be quick."

Neo nodded in understanding before turning, heading to the exit with three clacks of her heeled boots.

"One more thing, Neo," she said, prompting Neo to stop, still facing the door, "my line of work…lots of odds and ends turn up over the years. All sorts of weapons and trinkets…but I have no use for this."

Neo lost her breath when she turned back around and saw what Lil' Miss held.

"Think of it as a supplement," said Lil' Miss, "until the real job is done."

Neo took the hat into her hands slowly, the touch of its' brim so achingly familiar that she felt the need, for the first time since the fall of Beacon, to restrain her emotions.

And, if she weren't mute, she certainly would have been rendered speechless.

Neo took a deep breath as she ripped away her glance from the hat she held. The red ribbon, the feather tucked into it, the curved edge that Neo's finger curled around as it hung by her side, she tried to ignore it all as she gave a curt nod to Lil' Miss Malachite.

Neo turned around before walking out calmly, only the clapping of her heels heard in the silence.

The quiet surrender to the safe haven of the room she left was soon forgotten, her instinct of stealth returning once she found herself outside, cascading drops of rain prompting her to expand her umbrella.

It wasn't long until she found a familiar tiny enclosure, hidden away from the rest of the world.

Her back found a wall once she knew she couldn't be seen, sliding down until her legs were bent against her chest, her eyes starting to water.

The tears weren't restrained for long once her shaky hand brought the hat just before her eye-line. Neo's fingers crumpled along the hats' brim as tears ran down her face, her head bowing.

Neo could never get it back, the one thing she ever had, the genuine care shared between her and Roman, the voice he gave her.

She'd never felt truly alone before Roman died.

And she'd never felt crippled by her muteness until she landed in a Grimm-infested Vale, staring at her scroll, a red X blinking over Roman's aura gage.

It was only then that, for the first time, she felt that her voice was gone.


End file.
